Children of the Stars
by OmegaPineapple
Summary: Everyone has a different reason for wanting to climb the world tree. Some want their memories back. Some want to protect their family. Others have their own personal ghosts that haunt them. Others still do it simply as a living. Whatever the reason, it is often a gathering point for many people all from different walks of life that band together, seeking to achieve their goals.
1. Diary entry 1

We arrived at Iorys this morning. Draco and I were both pretty overwhelmed at the sight of the Yggdrasil tree and how its roots overgrew the whole town. Draco actually tripped over one earlier and hit himself with the butt of his rifle. It was pretty funny. We went the guild to get ourselves registered as adventures, then spent the rest of the day getting acquainted with the city. We visited a few food stalls and I even picked up a diary to jot my thoughts down in.

Actually, I suppose there's quite a bit I'm missing. I'll go back a bit and cover everything from the beginning until now.

I have something called amnesia. Basically what that means is that I don't have any memories from before a certain point. The earliest thing I can remember is waking up in a field with Meg looking pale hovering over me. When she saw I was awake, she ran and got Draco and they both helped me into their house where I rested for a bit. Draco said that they had never seen a Celestrian before and Meg kept staring at my ears. Apparently they're Earthlains. I don't really know what any of that means though, aside from them having round ears. When they asked me what I knew about myself and I said I couldn't remember, that's when they told me I had amnesia. They went into the other room for a bit and came back, asking me if I wanted to live with them. I didn't really want to impose but didn't have anywhere else to go, so I accepted. Meg shared with me that it felt lonely with just the two of them in the house ever since their dad disappeared and their mom died and after that, there was no way I could refuse.

And ever since then, they've been my family. We've all shared chores, work and whatever else to get by. The look on Draco and Meg's faces when they saw me use magic for the first time was priceless. Though I guess in their defense, my face must have been a sight worth seeing as well. According to a few books we rented at the library, Celestrians are naturally gifted in handling magic. Throwing an ice lance at Draco every so often definitely made sparing more interesting.

It started pretty infrequently at first, but gradually increased over time. At night, I would have dreams of a large tree that would stretch far into the sky. When I'd wake up, I would feel the strongest desire to go to that tree, but get frustrated when the reality of it not existing would hit me. I ignored it for a while, but when the dreams started happening every night I felt the need to tell Draco and Meg. They told me what I was dreaming about sounded a lot like the Yggdrasil tree in Iorys and I immediately started thinking of how to get there. I'd stay up late at night thinking about rations, travel routes and what essential objects I would need to bring if I was going to make it to Ioyrs in one piece.

I left early one morning before the sun rose. I knew if I told either Meg or Draco they would've tried to stop me, so I had to leave in secret. It sounds heartless, but I desperately wanted to find out who I was. Goodbyes are always painful anyway. I got to the edge of the village before Draco stopped me, to my surprise, wearing full armor and slinging his rifle and shield over his back. He told me that he knew this day would come and if I absolutely _had_ to leave, he wanted to come with. So we wound up settting out for Iorys together.

Which brings us to today. Realizing we wouldn't be let anywhere close to Yggdrasil unless we formed a guild, we settled on the name Herogard and formed a two-man party. The guildmaster gave us a funny look and explained that the Yggdrasil labyrinth is quite dangerous, suggesting we take another party member with us. As we sat in the bar discussing our options, we saw the most amazing thing. There was a man making unwanted advances on young woman with rabbit ears. (Draco told me she's a Therian.) She timidly pushed him away and sent him flying nearly halfway across the bar! Draco and I exchanged a look with one another and approached her. Draco did most of the talking and if I remember correctly, the conversations was as follows.

"Excuse me! We're the Herogard guild. That was an impressive throw! Have you ever thought of becoming an adventurer?"

She jumped up in her seat, looking at the both of us with wide-eyed fear. She was probably thinking two more men were going to make advances on her and was contemplating whether she should run or not. She spoke carefully, and her eyes kept darting back and forth.

"Not really. I hear the labyrinth is really tough. Only the strongest of strong make it through alive. I'm also a little low on en and I hear that adventurer stuff can be really expensive."

Draco didn't let this discourage him. He removed the coin purse we brought from his belt and let it hit the table with a combination of a dull thud and jingling. He beamed at the Therian woman.

"Tell you what! What if we made you a deal? We purchase all of your equipment and you join our guild!"

"I still don't know if I can commit to that sort of thing. I'm just a simple baker."

"You only have to try it for a day. If you don't like it, we won't force you to explore any more. Though I hear materials found in the labyrinth can fetch quite a few price..."

The woman's ears perked up when she heard that, and she agreed to join us. She introduced herself as Filo and we agreed to meet her in the city's center tomorrow morning. Draco's asleep right now, snoring as he normally does and I'm writing by the candlelight of the inn window. Funny enough, the inn is run by a Therian woman. As a sidenote, I grew quite excited earlier today when I saw other Celestrians for the first time. Draco had to remind me that it was rude to stare.

I can see Yggdrasil from my window. After all those years the tree that tempted me, always out of my reach, is now right in front of me. It's a surreal feeling. When I sleep tonight, I don't know if I'll dream of it or if I'll have a dreamless sleep now that I'm finally here. On the topic of sleep, it's starting to get late and if we're going to venture into the labyrinth tomorrow, I need to get to some rest. I guess I'll write more as we progress through the labyrinth.


	2. Diary entry 2

Meg followed us. How she managed to track us down without us noticing and so quickly is beyond me, but she's here now. It had only been a few hours since I stopped writing when we awoke to yelling downstairs, followed by stomping. That door flew open so fast I thought she had knocked it right off its hinges. Needless to say, she wasn't happy.

"How could you leave me behind?!"

Draco and I were both caught with our pants down. Well, not literally. That would've been a very different story. We were unprepared to face Meg's unholy wrath in our half-asleep states and were a bit flustered, unable to say anything.

Meg is terrifying when mad. She's normally pretty laid-back but when something gets to her, it's not uncommon for bones to be broken. There was a time where some children at the local school would point at my ears and call me things like "freak" and "weirdo", push me in the mud and laugh and steal my lunches I brought from home. It never bothered me that much but when Meg heard about this, she stormed out the door. The next day, I didn't see that group of kids. They came back after a couple of weeks and would always avoid making eye contact with me. When they saw Meg in the hallways, they'd run away screaming. I don't know what she did to them, but it must have been awful.

Draco and I had a good reason to be scared. Draco, being the expert wordsmith he is, spoke up.

"You were always complaining about how you didn't want to work, right? Well, if Tristan and I make it big as adventurers you'll never have to work again! You'll live a high life of luxary-"

Meg grabbed him by the collar firmly and shook him.

"Ow! Shit Meg, that hurts!"

"I don't care about any of that! You both left me alone, just like mom and dad did!"

At this point, Meg's eyes started to water. Figuring I should probably say something, I decided to tell her the truth.

"Meg, I-" I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts. "I'm sorry we left without saying anything. Truth be told, I didn't even plan on taking Draco with me. But after having those dreams of Yggdrasil, I thought it might have been connected to my memories. I _had_ to come here. I have to find out who I am."

Meg let go of Draco's collar and stared sadly at me, her gaze softening.

"I thought you already knew. You're our family."

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Awkwardly, I stared at the ground. Draco put a comforting hand on Meg's shoulder.

"There is another reason I came here. Adventurers from all over come here, right? That means they'll have information from every part of the world. And I was thinking that maybe one of them would be dad, or at least know where dad is."

Meg sniffled and wiped an eye with her non-cestus hand.

"I don't care about him. He left us on our own."

"Yeah, but like how Tristan has to know what happened to his memories, I _have_ to know what happened to dad."

Meg was quiet for a little while before speaking up again. When she looked at us, there was a resolute fire burning in her eyes.

"Then I'm joining both of you."

I think we both wanted to protest, but knew that Meg could dish out the most close quarters punishment. So we agreed. We talked for a little while afterward, exchanging stories about our journey here and coming up with a plan for tomorrow. The innkeper, Jenetta I think her name was, came in to check on us and make sure everything was alright. We all apologized for making so much noise and disturbing the other patrons before heading back to sleep. I can't use the candle by the window, so I'm making do with the moonlight to write this entry. Meg is snuggled up between both me and Draco, snoring very lightly. I feel bad for making her come so far from home, but if she's happy then I guess it's okay.


	3. Diary entry 3

I have a tendency to wake up always feeling tired, even if I got plenty of sleep the night before, but this morning was different. I woke up feeling unusually refreshed and energized. It could be a sense of excitement or it could be the giant tree right outside our window providing us with plenty of clean air to breathe. Whatever the reason, I was quite alert at the start of today. Draco has always been an early riser, much to Meg and I's confusion, so he wasn't there when I looked over. Meg was still fast asleep though, happily using my chest as a pillow. I was hoping she'd wake up on her own, but my I started to feel sore after waiting too long. Gently, I moved her head onto an actual pillow and slid out of bed. My stealthy efforts were in vain however, as she woke up anyway. She mumbled something that sounded a bit like "good morning" and shambled down the stairs. Jenetta cooked up breakfast and we left for the town square at around seven. As planned, Filo was there waiting for us. Draco waved to get her attention.

"Mornin'! You ready to explore today?"

She nodded and didn't say anything else. Shrugging, we took her to get registered and purchased her a katana. We were about to enter the first stratum when a tiny voice called out to us.

"Hey, you there!"

We looked around, but couldn't seem to place the disembodies voice. I however, felt a sharp jab in my knee. I let out a yelp and found a small girl with dark braids at my feet. She looked somewhat Earthlain, but also had pointed ears like other Celestrians.

"What are y-"

Draco interrupted me before I could make a fool out of myself. "What's a Brouni like yourself doing out here so early in the day?"

She stuck a thumb out at us. "You lot aren't planning on going in there without someone who practices medicine, are you?"

We all looked at each other awkwardly. Up until just the other day, only Draco and I were planning on entering the labyrinth. It was only yesterday that we recruited Filo and Meg followed us. Draco shook his head and shrugged.

"It wasn't really at the top of our priorities list."

"Well it _should_ be!" She took a step forward and without thinking all of us took a step back. "Do you know just how dangerous it is in the Yggdrasil labyrinth? I've seen it happen all too many times, some starry-eyed group of newbies waltzes into the labyrinth thinking they can conquer the whole damned tree in a day and all we find left of them is their blooded equipment."

Filo gulped and hid behind us.

"Point is, without a healer, you're dead."

Meg stepped forward. "And where exactly would we find a healer, then?"

The Brouni's face contorted as she stared at Meg. "Uh, _hello?_ " She gestured at all of herself.

"So what you're saying is you want to join our guild."

She pointed a finger at me. "Excellent job, knife-ears! Someone get this man a medal. Seems he's the only one with brains around here."

"Now hold on." Draco pushed forward. "Why should we be so eager to accept you into our guild? We don't even know you!"

Filo raised a meek hand. "You hardly know me either."

"I've got my reasons. Name's Hina. There, now we're not strangers anymore. Nice to meetcha." She spat in her hand and extended it to Draco with a coy smile.

"I'm...good on the handshake, thanks." He backed away then turned to face us. "What do you guys think?"

Meg rubbed her chin. "She's kind of rude, but she has a point. It might be handy to have her around."

"Tristan?"

"I agree with Meg. And if she causes any problems later down the line, we can always remove her from the guild."

Draco grinned. "Then it's settled then!"

"Not going to consult me? Oh, okay..." Filo's ears drooped.

"Welcome aboard, Hina."

From there we took a brief detour to get Hina registered, then made our way back to the labyrinth's entrance. There was a rough looking guard standing close to the forested area, I assumed to keep watch. He called out to us and barred our entry with his spear.

"Halt! You lot, you explorers?" We nodded. "You're new, I see. I can't let you enter until you speak with the prince. The council isn't far from here, so go do that first."

"Shit, we forgot to do that!" Draco grimaced, giving an apologetic look to the party. I shrugged.

"The labyrinth isn't going anywhere. We can take one more detour."

He pat me on the back and his usual toothy grin returned. Pushing through the crowd, we made our way to the council as the guard suggested. It wasn't hard to find, being the largest building in Iorys. Much to my surprise, and I think Draco and Meg's surprise as well, the prince looked to be a young adult roughly around our ages if not younger. He smiled warmly as he saw us approach.

"Ah, hello! I don't believe we've met. I am Ramus, prince of Iorys. Might I ask what your names are?"

After exchanging names and pleasantries, he explained to us that we would only be officially recognized as explorers and allowed residence if we completed an exam to test our navigation skills of the labyrinth. The test sounded simple enough. We just needed to collect a sample of soil and a piece of Yggdrasil's root. As we were leaving, Ramus stopped me.

"Ah, one more thing. Tristan, as a Celestrian, you might want to know this. Many of the barriers you find throughout your journey are actually caused by Celestrian magic. They are responsible for sealing off the first stratum, so keep that in mind as you explore."

That caught me off guard. I knew there was some kind of connection between myself and Yggdrasil, but others like me guard it? I froze for a few seconds as that information sunk in and my mind started swirling with all the possibilities.

"You comin', knife-ears?" Hina called, tapping her foot in annoyance.

"Right! Sorry!"

I ran to catch up with everyone and with our new mission, we ventured back to the labyrinth's entrance. The guard let us through and we began our exploration through a beautifully wooded area. I had never seen a canopy of leaves so dense or colors so vibrant before. Draco cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

"So...who should draw our map?"

Meg shrugged. "Don't look at me, I'm going to be too busy punching monsters. Maybe someone who's not on the front line?"

Hina immediately stepped forward in protest. "What, you think it's easy keeping everyone alive while keeping track of how much medicine I got left? Why don't _you_ try-"

"...I'll do it."

Everyone's gaze shifted to me, making me slightly uneasy underneath their collective stares.

"I've spent a lot of time reading books, and a few of them happened to be about survival and cartography. Besides, we're here because of me. I would feel bad making anyone else do it."

Filo stammered from the back, "A-actually, I live here-"

"Glad we can count on you, dude." Draco ruffled my mop-like hair and grinned.

Poor Filo. It's a shame she keeps getting ignored, but bringing it up to everyone would be awkward. Rather than speak up, I removed some spare parchment and pens from my bag and got to work, following where Meg and Draco led. Filo took her position in the front as well, but trailed slightly behind.

Given Hina's short stature, I couldn't help but occasionally glance over at her. It often felt like we had lost her, but shifting my gaze downward always reassured me that she was still walking parallel to me. After a while of this, she gave a dirty look.

"Ya got somethin' to say, knife-ears?"

That nickname was starting to wear on me. Sure, it never bothered me when the bullies would make fun of my ears, but I had at least registered them as enemies in my head. Hina was supposed to be a friend but had been nothing but hostile since she joined our guild. Part of me was almost starting to regret letting her in.

"I have a name, you know."

"Then prove that you're worthy of bein' called by it." She then fell into a deathly silence I didn't dare say anything else for fear of making the situation worse.

There were a few streams we had to cross to get the samples we needed. One was particularly muddy, but we got through it just fine by taking it nice and slow. There was a wide, open clearing at the base of Yggdrasil and we got to the tree's roots relatively quickly. Draco withdrew a survival knife from his pack and carved a small chunk.

"That should do it!" As we turned around, we noticed a couple of large acorns behind us, roughly the size of Hina's head. "Huh. Did the tree drop these when we were getting the root?"

It wasn't even seconds after he had finished his sentence that one of the acorns lunged at him.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed and parried the acorn with his shield. "Filo, do your thing!"

Hands shaking, she withdrew her katana and cleaved the other in two before it had any time to react. I honestly don't know who was more in awe, her or us. That brief moment of reprive was short lived, as a boar with drool dripping off its fangs emerged from the bushes and devoured the acorn that Draco had parried away. After eating it, its eyes grew wide and its body twitched involuntarily. Upon making eye contact with us, it let out an ear piercing roar and charged us.

Time sort of slowed down for a second and I saw that as Draco went to block the attack for us, I noticed he was at a bad angle. He would deflect most of the damage, but Hina was going to be grazed by the other tusk pretty badly. Without thinking, I broke out into a sprint and pushed her out of the way, the tusk digging into the flesh of my arm.

Meg's eyes flared up with rage and she brought her first down on the boar's head, crushing its skull and killing it instantly. After she calmed down, she hurried to join to semi-circle that was forming around me.

"You damned idiot! What were thinking?!" Hina cried as she hurriedly rummaged through her sack of herbs and remedies.

"I don't know. My body just moved on its own. If I had to explain it, I guess I didn't want to see one of my new friends hurt."

Hina locked eye contact with me for a few seconds before looking away to disinfect the wound. "Stupid kid..." Although she still sounded annoyed, there was a bit of softness to her tone that wasn't there before.

It was also the first time I had heard her call me something other than knife-ears.

The journey back to Iorys was slightly more taxing than the trip from. Given my injured condition, getting through the mud was a tad more difficult and Draco and Meg who I had been leaning on, her noticeably out of breath when we got to the other side. Nonetheless, we got back to town safely. When we went to submit our samples, Draco's face went pale.

"We forgot the soil."

I gave a sly smile and removed a vial from my bag with labyrinth dirt.

"When did you-?!"

Seeing his reaction go from despair, to relief, to confusion got a soft chuckle out of me. "When Hina was treating me wounds, I used that time on the ground to grab a bit of the dirt." I turned to Ramus. "Will this suffice?"

He titled his head and frowned. "While we wouldn't typically accept soil not found at the designated spot, I also realize you took quite a beating and it would've been difficult for you while being pursued by enemies. And your map is one of the most detailed I've seen, rivaling that of a veteran's. I'll overlook it just this once, but don't become too used to it. I tend to stand by what I say."

I nodded and grinned, failing to contain my excitement. Looking around, everyone else was pretty excited too. Even Hina cracked a smile. We all thanked Ramus and turned to leave the council. Right after exiting the building, Draco turned to Filo.

"So, what'd you think? That wasn't too bad, was it?"

She put a thoughtful hand on her chin. "I suppose not."

"That's great to hear! Whaddya say we all hit up the bar to celebrate?"

Cheers rang out from all of us and though it was early in the evening, we drank to first successful expedition and to many more. Turns out some of the boar's parts fetched a nice price and Draco, Meg, Hina and I can now all afford our own rooms. My arm is well enough to write, but it still hurts. Doing most activities cause it to flare up. For now, I'm going to guess that the best thing I can do for it is rest. We officially begin our climb of Yggdrasil tomorrow.


End file.
